The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for providing prescription medication delivery and reminder services.
Existing systems for providing prescription medication to end users are cumbersome and suffer problems associated with prescription non-pickup. Prescription delivery services are inefficient from the perspective of pharmacies, as redundant data entry is often required (e.g., once to enter prescription data for a claim, and then again entering the data for delivery). Pharmaceutical companies also experience inefficiency with existing systems, for example in the form of reversals which might lead to excessive losses in potential revenue. Inefficient prescription processes cost health plans significant amounts of money on hospital readmissions due to medication non-adherence. Health plans' star ratings also take a hit based on non-adherence, which can cause issues with future reimbursements for Medicare/Medicaid. In a recent study conducted by CVS Caremark, medication non-adherence cost the entire health care system $290 billion.
Reversals are a serious problem with existing prescription pickup implementations. A reversal occurs when a prescription is approved but the patient never returns to pick up the approved prescription. The pharmacy is then required to run a reversal and return the transaction to the plan in 14 days. Reversals cost the pharmacy money (e.g., in the form of employee overhead, transaction fees, carrying costs, etc.), that the pharmacy ultimately doesn't recoup. Unrealized filled prescriptions cost the Pharmaceutical companies money. Some Pharmaceutical companies are missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars per year on a single brand on just-approved prescriptions that sit on pharmacy shelves and ultimately get reversed.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists to provide systems and methods for implementing a prescription delivery service which eliminates redundancy in data entry for pharmacies while providing a prescription delivery service which also addresses downfalls associated with traditional prescription medication distribution.